The day after today
by Raeinspace
Summary: Eventual SwanQueen one-shot, COMPLETE (probably could have been split into two chapters), set on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Regina has been invited to the Charming's Christmas Eve party. She meets a drunk Emma outside and they talk. The next morning Emma finds a text message in her outbox but doesn't remember why she sent it.


**Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT, etc.**

**AN: So I started writing a Christmas story a little late this year, but I'm indulging in some late-night writing and managed to finish it. Hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year! :) **

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><p>It was getting late. Regina stood on the street outside Mary Margaret's apartment and stared up at the window. The lights were on, and she could hear the laughter from inside. She had been invited to the Christmas Eve party and while she had declined at first, Henry had persuaded her to change her mind. She had their presents wrapped up and in a red Christmas bag; matching his'n'hers jumpers for Snow and Charming, a bottle of her best year cider for Emma (the blonde was the only one who dared drink it, and she had twenty-eight years of the stuff to choose from) and comics for Henry (ordered from a Boston store which specialised in rare editions). No doubt there would be other townspeople up there, but Regina hadn't seen a guest list and would have been unlikely to exchange gifts with them anyway.<p>

The air was cold. Wrapped up with her hat, scarf and gloves, Regina continued to linger by the outer door.

_What if..._

There was no chance to finish her thoughts. The door opened, nearly knocking her over, and Regina stepped out of its way… and directly into the path of the person leaving.

"Miss Swan," she exclaimed as she found herself caught in Emma's grasp, as the blonde woman saved her from falling flat on her face.

"Regina, you're late. The party started hours ago."

Regina didn't need to look at Emma to tell she had been drinking heavily, the smell of the alcohol had reached her. Shaking herself free from Emma's hands, she looked down to ensure the presents were still intact.

"Are you going in?" Emma asked, holding the door open for her.

Regina looked at it, listening to the sudden increase in sound as someone began singing. Instinctively, she backed away.

"Scared, madame mayor?"

"Of course not," Regina snapped. "What are you doing out here?"

"Needed some fresh air," Emma smiled at her and leant against the building.

"Did someone suggest that for you, or were you trying to run away?"

"I'm not drunk and I'm not running away. Look, no bags," Emma explained, holding out her hands as if to convince Regina she was telling the truth.

They eyed each other warily, then Emma noticed the bag Regina was holding. "You brought us presents?"

"Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Giving presents?"

"Yeah, I mean no, but it is…" Emma mumbled.

Regina wondered whether alcohol was the best gift to give her, perhaps she could magically switch it out for something else.

"What I'm trying to say," Emma continued, "is that Christmas is about family too, and love and stuff…"

"Very eloquent. Perhaps I should…"

"I've got you something too," Emma moved to stop her from leaving.

"That's very kind of you, I wasn't expecting…"

Emma stopped her with a kiss. There was no warning, no other bodily contact. Somewhere in the seconds of Regina blinking, Emma had moved towards her and brushed her lips against the soft, red ones of the ex-Queen. Regina felt a tingling spread from her heart, out along her arms and from her chest to the rest of her body. There was only one problem, she realised. Emma was drunk.

"I should get inside," Regina decided.

Emma looked away, feeling sad. "I understand."

"Aren't you coming?" Regina asked, watching Emma look up at the window and back down to the pavement but not hearing her last words.

"Not yet."

Sighing, Regina put the bag of presents on the ground and sat on the front step of the building. "Talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. You've been drinking so I doubt any of it will make sense to me, but something is bothering you…"

"I'm not drunk."

"Emma, you just kissed me, a full-out-on-the-lips kiss."

"So?"

"It's not something you'd have done if you were sober."

Emma wasn't sure how to answer that one. It felt like a trick question.

"Didn't you like the kiss?" she asked finally.

"I… I…" Regina stuttered, worried about how much of this conversation Emma would remember in the morning.

"You see, there's nothing to talk about."

"Then let's go into the party," Regina concluded.

Emma looked up at the window again, "They're all just so… happy, you know?"

"Aren't you happy?"

Emma shrugged, "Sometimes."

"That's better than never being happy at all. I remember how I felt before I had Henry, I was so alone even when I was surrounded by people. I never felt truly loved and watching their happiness hurt me because I was left out."

"Exactly," Emma looked back at Regina, as if trying to will her to understand what she wanted to say. "Being with them is so strange, because I know they're my family but I know they'd be happy even if I wasn't here."

"That's not true."

"It _is_," Emma insisted. "Snow's pregnant again and all she can talk about is the new baby they're going to have. It's just too much to handle sometimes, because they're trying to act like my parents one minute and then forgetting about me the next when they talk about when the baby is born, when it'll start walking and talking..."

"You're still her daughter too."

"Everyone loves babies more. This time they'll get to do everything they were supposed to…"

"That's my fault. I cast the curse…"

"I don't blame you, I never have. They had a choice and they could have kept me with them. If they'd wanted me, they could have decided to raise me in the curse with them so that we'd still have been a family."

"They were scared, they wanted to protect you."

"Stop making excuses for them."

"They love you. If you just go in there you'll see it." Regina stood up, hoping to encourage Emma back inside.

"I don't want to."

"It's too cold to stay out here all night."

"We could go back to your place," Emma suggested, moving to stand closer to her, surprising Regina.

"And… do what?" Regina asked carefully.

Emma lowered her voice, bringing her lips close to Regina's ear, "whatever you want."

Eyes wide, Regina stepped away from her. "And when you wake up in the morning, hung over with no memory of this conversation? No thank you."

Emma grinned, "so you've considered it?"

Regina's face became unreadable, her standard no-nonsense mayor face. "I'm going up to the party now."

"What about after the party?" Emma offered again.

"If you want to ask me out Miss Swan, I suggest doing so when you have not been drinking. Otherwise I cannot take anything you say seriously."

Emma smiled, "so I can ask you out tomorrow?"

Regina knew that getting her hopes up was a bad idea. There was a very good chance that it was just the alcohol making Emma do and say these things. On the other hand, even if she agreed now, it didn't mean that Emma would remember the next day. If the blonde later laughed at her for saying yes, she could deny it ever happened.

"Yes," the word was out before she could stop it.

Emma grinned and hugged her again. Regina felt lips brush against her cheek and heard Emma whisper 'tomorrow' in her ear, before the blonde opened the door to let her inside.

In the apartment, she replied to everyone's Christmas greetings and put the presents under the tree. She stayed for two hours, not wanting to disappoint Henry, and left without any awkward conversations with Emma.

Once home she noticed a text message on her cell. It was just one word, from Emma: _tomorrow_.

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><p>Regina's morning routine went smoothly, as always. She was out of the house and on her way to the office before remembering that it was Christmas day and no-one else would be there. Henry was staying with Emma for Christmas lunch, then coming over to hers for dinner, so she had plenty of time to cook if she went to work for a couple of hours first.<p>

She parked her car in its usual spot and unlocked the main door to the building, switching on a few lights as she went. Regina set an alarm on her cell to remind her when it was time to leave and settled down to the paperwork from her 'in' tray. Twenty minutes later, she heard footsteps out in the hallway. She looked up and was surprised to see Emma about to knock on her open door.

"What are you doing at work, on Christmas day?" Emma asked, looking amused.

"That would be working, Miss Swan. Some of us have important jobs."

"It's Christmas," Emma repeated, "and your job doesn't require you to work today."

"It's only for an hour or two. With the peace and quiet I expect I'll get quite a lot done. Why aren't you with Henry?"

"He's a teenager. Not even Christmas can get him up this early."

Regina smiled. "He used to wake at 5am. I suspected he had an alarm under his pillow but although I checked I never found it."

"So, we have some things to talk about," Emma stepped into the office, hovering by the chair in front of Regina's desk.

"Do we?"

Emma held out her cell, showing Regina the screen. "I found this in my outbox this morning. Any idea what it means?"

Regina didn't need to look at it to know what Emma was talking about. Her face fell as she realised Emma didn't remember their conversation. She had been right.

"You were drinking a lot at the party, perhaps you sent the message to the wrong person."

"Oh," Emma looked surprised, as though she hadn't considered that.

Regina kept her eyes down, pretending to focus on the paperwork on her desk, as she braved the comment: "I was surprised you were able to send the text at all. Some of the things you were saying were definitely out of character."

"They were?"

"Again, I blame the alcohol you were consuming and don't expect you were serious about any of it."

"What did I say?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Emma nodded, "sure. I mean, sometimes people find the courage to tell the truth when they've been drinking…" _unless it's something really bad, something insulting or upsetting – god, Emma did you call her the Evil Queen? Quick, say something_: "…or I could have been spouting complete nonsense. I won't know until you tell me."

"You asked me out." Regina laid her cards on the table, looking up to see Emma's reaction.

"I… I did?"

"Yes, and I pointed out that you probably wouldn't remember…"

"..because of the alcohol…"

"..exactly."

"So you turned me down?"

"You were upset, so I suggested that it could wait until today when you would be sober. The idea cheered you up and we were able to go into the party."

"Then I text you so that I would remember to ask you today?"

"Possibly…" Regina hedged around the question.

"Did you only turn me down because I was drunk?"

"Did you only ask me because you were?"

Emma smiled at Regina, "the alcohol gave me the courage to ask, yes."

"I… see."

Regina really wasn't sure whether Emma meant that she had wanted to ask or not, but it seemed like the safest answer. They stared at each other, unsure whether to continue the conversation, neither wanting to make the first move.

Emma's cell rang. It was Henry, asking where she was.

"The one teenager awake for Christmas morning," Emma joked when she ended the call.

"You should go home," Regina told her, wishing she could see Henry opening his presents too.

"If you think you can tear yourself away from work, do you want to come along?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Christmas morning with Snow White?"

"There's plenty of alcohol left in the house. I have a feeling someone brought me some cider for Christmas and I'd be willing to share."

"I have to make dinner for Henry…"

"Just stay for a hour or two?"

"If you promise not to get drunk. I don't know how Henry or your parents would react to you asking me out."

"What if you get drunk? Would you ask me out?"

Regina smiled as Emma grinned at her. "Do you accept date invitations from someone who is inebriated?"

Emma laughed and headed to the door. "Are you coming?"

With an exaggerated sigh, Regina rested her pen on the desk and went to collect her coat and bag. Emma held the office door open for her, breath catching as Regina passed close by.

"Happy Christmas, Regina," she said as they headed to the front door.

"And to you, Miss Swan."

Emma put her hand out as if to open the front door, but didn't turn the handle. She turned around, finding Regina only inches away from her.

"Oh look," she said, tilting her head up, "mistletoe."

"Where?" Regina frowned and as she looked up, Emma closed the gap between them and kissed her.

"My mistake," Emma told her, as she waited for Regina to speak, "but you should really get some put up there." Regina just gaped at her, so Emma continued, "okay, so I didn't want to have to wait any longer. You've let me kiss you twice now, and you haven't killed me with a ball of fire for doing it, so… would you like to go on a date with me sometime? I am completely sober right now… please say something?"

Closing her mouth, Regina nodded. "Alright."

"That's a yes?"

"It's Christmas, I'm going to take the risk that you understand what you're saying and that it's too early in the morning for you to have been drinking…"

"Yes! To both those statements," Emma hugged her on impulse and Regina let her, even bringing one arm around Emma's shoulders in an attempt to hug her back.

"You do realise that we haven't actually made the plans for the date yet?"

"I have some ideas."

"Really?"

Emma pulled back to look at Regina, blushing as she admitted, "I might have considered asking you out for a while."

"And what sort of plans did you make?"

Emma shook her head, "that would be telling and I don't want to spoil the surprise… Unless you have any ideas for your preferred first date?"

"I will leave it completely in your hands."

Emma was beaming at her now, "great."

"We should get going," Regina reminded her. "Henry is still waiting to open his presents."

"Oh yeah." Emma pushed open the front door.

Regina looked around the car park, "where's your car?"

"I walked."

"Get in," Regina told her, unlocking the car from where she was standing before turning back to lock the building.

When she slid in behind the wheel and put on her seatbelt, Regina glanced over at Emma. The blonde was still smiling and looking back at her.

"We probably shouldn't mention the date to anyone," Regina warned.

"In case it doesn't go well?"

"That, and… do you really want everyone in this town to know about it? Once one person finds out the rumour mill will spread it around and they'll be watching us."

"They do that now, anyway."

"Your parents might not approve," she added.

"I am an adult."

"It might cause an argument at Christmas, and I don't want to spoil the day for Henry."

Emma nodded, "okay, fair point, but after today we can tell them, right? I don't want there to be any more secrets."

"Tomorrow," Regina agreed.

"Tomorrow," Emma seconded.


End file.
